Conventional general-purpose flashlights are well known and find wide application by both law enforcement personnel and civilians. Conventional flashlights generally include an incandescent light bulb and dry cell batteries disposed in an elongated generally cylindrical casing typically consisting of a body section and a head section. Flashlights of this type are often bulky and cumbersome. The size and weight of such conventional flashlights inhibit the mobility of law enforcement personnel when carried along with other law enforcement equipment. Many times this results in the flashlight being purposely or inadvertently left behind when an officer is called on to investigate a crime or accident scene or other situation. This presents a problem when the need for a flashlight arises and one is not readily accessible. Similarly, for personal use lighting, conventional bulky flashlights do not lend themselves to being carried at times when conditions suggest that a flashlight be carried on one's person in the event one loses his/her way during walking or hiking in unfamiliar territory, or when backpacking and camping where the weight of equipment is a significant factor.
The problems of weight and bulkiness experienced with prior flashlights that employ elongated tubular barrels which hold one or more cylindrical shaped batteries have been significantly overcome by recent flashlight designs that employ generally small hand-holdable lightweight rectangular shaped housings and that can be readily carried on one's person. See, for example, U.S. patent No. 6,789,917, issue Sep. 14, 2004, that is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is incorporated herein by reference.
Furthermore, it is of benefit to law enforcement personnel, as well as civilian personnel, that a flashlight be attachable to the user so that the user has both hands free for other activities. Thus, an adjustable case adapted for attachment to a user, such as being attachable to a user's belt or a waist strap or other article of clothing, and that can releasably support a lightweight rectangularly shaped flashlight, such as that disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. patent application, and that is itself compact in size and enables selective directional use of the flashlight while attached to the user, would provide significant advantages over known flashlight cases or carriers. Further, such selective directional use of the flashlight permits the flashlight case to rotate relative to the slide-on clip so that, for example, the flashlight can direct a beam forward of a person to whom the flashlight case is attached. As another example, an officer wearing the adjustable case on his or her belt can rotate the flashlight to a convenient angle to illuminate paperwork in which the officer may be involved.